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Sunday, July 31, 2016

The Sunday Salon: We're Home!

Hello, friends. It sure has been a while! We had a wonderful vacation... Santa Fe, a family wedding in Denver, Rocky Mountain National Park, Steamboat Springs, and a quick visit with our daughters in NYC. Now I'm exhausted, but happy. And as always, I didn't read as much as I'd hoped.

My book club will discuss this book at the end of August, but I finished listening on our first flight. I first picked it up several years ago and never got into it, so decided to try listening this time - definitely the right move! Lisette Lecat is a familiar voice (she narrates The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series) and I ended up enjoying it enough to add Fuller's next book, Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness, to my audio wish list. Look for my review after the meeting.

This was an impulse purchase from an indie bookstore (Off the Beaten Path) in Steamboat Springs, CO. A feel-good nonfiction title about life, love, and friendship... with a foodie twist. I finished reading it on the flight from Denver to NYC and will post a book brief soon.

I started this on the train home from NYC yesterday... downloaded from my library just prior to boarding. An academic setting is always appealing and I couldn't resist the blurb: Finally a novel that puts the "pissed" back into "epistolary." At the 60% mark, I'm finding it pretty entertaining.

I loved Nobody's Fool and wanted to keep the momentum going by continuing the series while characters and events are still fresh in my mind. So far it's another excellent novel by Russo... and another wonderful audio production, too.

Coming up//

I'm still trying to catch up with all that happened in blogland while I was away, but Care thoughtfully alerted me (via twitter) about an upcoming readalong. It sounds like a group read of Germinal by Emile Zola will begin in September. As many of you know, I'm already a Zola fan and have been wanting to read this book, often referred to as his masterpiece, for long time. You can check twitter for the hashtag #GerminalAlong, but I'll pass along details here as they become available. Sounds like another good opportunity for a read/listen combination to me :)

What's new with you? Did you read any good books while I was away?

I'm off to tackle that mountain of vacation laundry...

This post will link to It's Monday, What Are You Reading? hosted by Kathryn at Book Date.

48 comments:

Glad you had fun on your trip! I would love to visit Santa Fe (we drove through New Mexico on our way to this state, but only spent one night when our car broke down in the middle of nowhere there)and of course, the Rocky Mts.--- wow!

It's funny how some titles are good to read, and then other folks only enjoy them as audio books. I don't listen to books, just my style, but I'm still curious about whether to pick up this Fuller title, which I've seen in my library before.

Rita - My BIL lives in Santa Fe and I'm so happy we have an excuse to visit very now and then... it's a beautiful city. I'm still in awe over the beauty of Rocky Mountain National Park. I always fascinated by the difference between print and audio for certain books. Sometimes a narrator adds so much to the text, but a bad one can detract from it. I especially like nonfiction on audio because I often retain more of what I hear.

I happened to run across a cheap, uncorrected edition, so now I'm deep into The Nest. July has been a busy month of reading. Sounds like you had a great vacation--hitting all the "high" spots--but glad you're back!

JudyMac - The Nest was an entertaining summer read for me... love some good family dysfunction! ;-) Glad you had such a good reading month. Our vacation was excellent. Glad the wedding pushed us to plan it!

It looks like you had a wonderful vacation in Santa Fe and Colorado. I loved seeing all your beautiful photos! As exhausting as travel may be, it's so worth it when you're able to stay in such gorgeous parts of our country. Mountains & trees (and an ocean or lake) are just about my idea of paradise! Do you know that we've lived in Nebraska since 1992 and we've never been to Estes Park! Now if we go, it will be on a vacation from Oregon. Kind of funny.

I couldn't get into Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight either, so maybe I'll have to try the audio. I hear it's very good.

I'm currently listening to The Girl with All the Gifts (very good) and reading Leveling the Playing Field (also very good). Last month was pretty light, with regard to reading. I only finished 2 books!

Les - All the natural beauty in the west is just amazing... everywhere we turned! Hope we get back to Estes Park again someday. Funny about Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight. I donated my paperback to the library book sale, so was mad at myself when book club selected it. Figured it was a sign when I check audible and found Lisette Lecat narrating. I must have listened to 3 or 4 (maybe more!) No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books and thought she was great. She still is!

I'm so pleased to hear you had a wonderful holiday - you certainly fitted in a lot so no wonder your tired. This month I'm pleased to have upped my reading to 6 books. Good luck with all that washing and happy reading in August :-)

Glad u had such a nice vacation; I've enjoyed all of your Instagram pics. I started Everybody's Fool on audio and after 15 chapters or so decided to get the print version (waiting for me at library). I was finding the voice too dry although Sully appropriate LOL enjoy

JaneGS - Yes, planes and trains were about the only reading I did for the past couple of weeks. There's still so much more to see and do in Colorado, I'm already planing my next trip! Can't wait to start Germinal.

Oh I love Colorado. How wonderful you had a great trip. It's always beautiful there. Glad to know the Fuller book makes a good audio -- I'll add it to my list. Africa stories are up my alley. Welcome home to the lake.

Susan - Seems like I've been reading a lot of Africa stories lately... besides the Fuller, there was Circling the Sun and West With the Night all in the last couple of months. Colorado is SO beautiful. I'm already dreaming of another trip.